The increasing reserves of natural gas combined with its availability in different geographical locations have generated a great interest in development of processes for its economical transformation into energy-dense liquid transportation fuel and products. Methane is the principal component of natural gas and thus development of economical and sustainable strategies for utilization of methane is of significance. A well-recognized process is oxidative transformation of methane into methanol. Partial oxidation of methane to synthesis gas followed by the Fischer-Tropsch chemistry is a well established chemical transformation process. However, it involves multiple components which results in high capital costs and the conversion efficiency is generally poor. This limits its utility only in geographical locations with large natural gas reserves.
Although methanotrophs belonging to alpha- and gamma-proteobacteria are known to utilize methane as a sole source of carbon and energy, there are many challenges in the use of methanotrophs based bioprocess technology for production of high-value products from methane. These organisms obtain the necessary energy for metabolic activities including the initial oxidation of methane by converting a large amount of methane into CO2 which results in loss of methane and generation of greenhouse gas. Therefore, there are great challenges in leveraging these organisms for commercial applications to convert natural gas into products useful in petrochemical, material and energy industries.